No gears in Overdrive

[Seivad17]

I have been having a problem with my 99 Ford Ranger (3.0) Automatic Transmission with 155K miles, I believe it is the 4R55E but I'm not sure. For a little over a year now when shifting between 2nd to 3rd it will free rev and then hit hard into 3rd. I remedied this problem by letting off the gas at about 35mph and letting it shift into 3rd. About two weeks ago a friend told me I should check the transmission fluid level. It was about a 3/4 inch above the full mark, so I drained it down to normal. Since then it had not been hitting as hard but a new problem developed. When I let off the gas to let it shift into 3rd, sometimes it would not go into gear at all like it was in neutral. Fast forward a week problems get progressively worse. When overdrive is on, it will not go into any gear unless it is manually put into 1st or 2nd with the gear shifter. When overdrive is off, it works fine but first gear seems to need more gas than usual. After I get it up to 50MPH or so I can turn on overdrive and after a couple of seconds of free revving it will go into overdrive. Reverse will not work period, but I do feel a faint pull when I put it in reverse. I have added more fluid to bring it back to the level it was - with no change in performance. I have read that an upgrade to the valve body may fix a lot of the problems I have been having (e.g. no engine breaking in 1st, delayed shifting) Do you think that this upgrade could solve my current problems as well? I am hesitant to get too far into the transmission but I think I may be able to do the valve body upgrade. I am a do-it-yourselfer (although it gets me into trouble most of the time) I have done almost all of the mechanical work on my truck including replacing the head gaskets. Is this a job that one without much knowledge on transmissions can do with the help of this forum? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! I would suggest that you read Glacier991's 5R55E valve body rebuild diary before attempting this. It is located in the stickies on top of the transmission section.

 

[Seivad17]

Thanks for your reply. I have read, or at least skimed over, Glacier991's rebuild diary but I'm not sure if this is the cause of my problems.

 

[Seivad17]

It seems that when overdrive is on, it is only in overdrive and will not go into any other gear unless manually put there. I am still having shift problems between 2nd & 3rd even with overdrive off. Any help?

 

[BrooklynBay]

It could be an internal valve body problem, solenoids, bad VB gaskets, or loose VB bolts. The EPC solenoid is a high wear part since it is modulated, and could be bad with 155k miles. That is pretty much its limit with those kind of miles.

 

[Seivad17]

What kind of costs am I looking at to upgrade the valve body and replace the EPC solenoid (if bad)? Any suggestions on where to get the parts? Besides basic tools and a socket set, is there any special tools I should have before starting this project?

 

[BrooklynBay]

There are a few places that sell valve body parts such as WWW.TransmissionPartsUSA.Com, WWW.Axiom.Com, WWW.BulkParts.Com, and WWW.FastPartsNetwork.Com. Another thread that I recommend reading is Bigg_Billy's 5R55E stairway to a diary. He has a list of the necessary procedures to take before doing this rebuild, as well as a detailed parts list, and a list of suppliers where he bought his parts. Here is the link to that thread: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=154655